2004-12-22
HOMELESSNESS
Being without domicile does not mean that one is dirty, worthless, lazy, pitiful, despicible or vile |
Would that everyone recognized this | All too often it means ~ if one is homeless ~ that one is vulnerable to a myriad of problems | You can't try to get work the same day as a place to stay | You are denied the change to purchase just about anything from an old beat up car to storage renatl space for your possessions | There is no health care plan | You can be victim to violent predators, from drug addicts to demented affluent suburbanites out to play a twisted game for 'hunt the human prey' |
Even when "housed" folks deign to spend time with you, there all too often seems to be 'an edge' to the interaction | From well-meaning [though not infrequently misguided] faux sociological interviews wanting to know how you got to this, to guilt-ridden outpourings of inconsistent generosity, the messages from the well-off can be disconcerting |
Half the people who talk to a person who is homeless think he or she is mentally ill, failing to recognise that ~ oft-times ~ larger societal "illnesses" [greed, indifference, prejudice] and their end effects, result in people losing residences and any sense of stable life | Few will stop to start anything resembling some tentative acquaintence, much less a friendship | An even smaller number of "housed persons" ever stop to reflect on the real causes of becoming homeless |
Then along comes Christmas | People do the outporuing of giving; governors and mayors and the occasional movie star spend a couple of hours in a soup kitchen | So much easier than pushing for fundamental change of the social order | How few actually ever make the psychic/spiritual connect to these souls amongst us to have them "...become our rare and significant others..." |
People who are homeless have many of the same needs, dreams, hopes, wishes and goals as most anyone else | The need for affordable housing, an actual choice in where one lives and in what one does on a day to day basis | The need for medical attention, gainful work, and the right to be treated with respect and dignity As long as even one among us is living destitue in a society of wealth and abundance, it is eveidence of gross injustices remaining commonplace | Think about this, then do something different to counteract the causes of this common ~ but disturbing ~ plight |
PIX CREDIT: from Real Change News
Being without domicile does not mean that one is dirty, worthless, lazy, pitiful, despicible or vile |
Would that everyone recognized this | All too often it means ~ if one is homeless ~ that one is vulnerable to a myriad of problems | You can't try to get work the same day as a place to stay | You are denied the change to purchase just about anything from an old beat up car to storage renatl space for your possessions | There is no health care plan | You can be victim to violent predators, from drug addicts to demented affluent suburbanites out to play a twisted game for 'hunt the human prey' |
Even when "housed" folks deign to spend time with you, there all too often seems to be 'an edge' to the interaction | From well-meaning [though not infrequently misguided] faux sociological interviews wanting to know how you got to this, to guilt-ridden outpourings of inconsistent generosity, the messages from the well-off can be disconcerting |
Half the people who talk to a person who is homeless think he or she is mentally ill, failing to recognise that ~ oft-times ~ larger societal "illnesses" [greed, indifference, prejudice] and their end effects, result in people losing residences and any sense of stable life | Few will stop to start anything resembling some tentative acquaintence, much less a friendship | An even smaller number of "housed persons" ever stop to reflect on the real causes of becoming homeless |
Then along comes Christmas | People do the outporuing of giving; governors and mayors and the occasional movie star spend a couple of hours in a soup kitchen | So much easier than pushing for fundamental change of the social order | How few actually ever make the psychic/spiritual connect to these souls amongst us to have them "...become our rare and significant others..." |
People who are homeless have many of the same needs, dreams, hopes, wishes and goals as most anyone else | The need for affordable housing, an actual choice in where one lives and in what one does on a day to day basis | The need for medical attention, gainful work, and the right to be treated with respect and dignity As long as even one among us is living destitue in a society of wealth and abundance, it is eveidence of gross injustices remaining commonplace | Think about this, then do something different to counteract the causes of this common ~ but disturbing ~ plight |
TO LEARN MORE: Survival Guide to Homelessness | Facts about Homelessness | National Law Center on Homelessness + Poverty | Moyra Peralta's Street Photographs | Connecticut Coalition | United Way [Seattle] Out of the Rain Initiative | Northeast Ohio's Coalition for the Homeless | Real Change's Homeless Snapshot
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